The Fate of the Ashen Leaves
by The Ashen Leaf
Summary: Caius and Hazil Ashenleaf, more known as the Priest Twins, must discover their destiny in order to depart from the madness of Azeroth.
1. Something is out there

It was a peaceful evening in Astranaar. The wars had come and gone, and Ashenvale once again belonged to the noble race of the Kaldorei, no matter how short it may last. It was peace, and the people of Astranaar prospered. Even the boom of the constant battle in the Gulch has ceased. For a few hours at least, Ashenvale was at rest.

A set of priest twins, brother and sister, Caius and Hazil, were particularly fond of the quiet. Hazil, the younger of the two, (however only by about 10 minutes) was answering some letters that had been delivered from Darnassus, and Caius, was having a well deserved sleep. The night previous, Astranaar had been bombarded with wounded men and women from the Gulch, despite their victory, there was always a price to pay. It was Caius's job to heal the wounded and ensure their complete recovery, as he could do nothing for the bodies that returned, their souls having past over to the Light of Elune long before.

The siblings, they had a secret. A secret that few knew about. A secret about one thing; their age. Their age people were forced to guess. Being Night Elves, it was very common for their life span to triple and even quadruple the years that a human shall live, as they age very slowly, but Caius and Hazil's age was far, far beyond that.

They have been breathing since the end of the War of the Ancients. At their time of birth, a witch doctor had casted a curse on them. The curse; Thou shalt continue to breath until thou hast completed the journeys.

So far, their journey had clearly not been fulfilled. Neither Hazil or Caius looked to be anywhere beyond the age of of twenty. Both dreamt about it sometimes, getting foggy clues to what their destiny was supposed to be, but have never been able to put them together. It was frustrating, for both of them. Time corrupts the mind, and has slowly been eating away at both of their consciousness. It shows in Caius, forcing him to think his love is with him at times she is not, and in Hazil, making her despondent, often for days at a time.

In his bed he lay, his long, almost glowing white hair splayed across his bare back against his blue skin. He didn't have different dreams anymore, and dream't of only one. One person. The woman who he loved with every fiber of his being.

Syrena. Syrena Jadearrow. Oh how Caius longed to see her again, however distance was their enemy. She, a newly graduated student of Malfurion Stormrage himself, lived in the midst of Darnassus, working in the temple and preparing to go off to war, to help the Alliance to their possible complete victory against the Horde.

How Caius dreaded the day his love would leave him. How he regretted that, when she left, he may possibly never see her alive again, which means he would NEVER see her again. The thought, it killed him, many days it kills him. Many days when he's trying desperately to work, to heal the sick and mend the wounded, the thought of that woman dying was too much for him to bear, and would often make him physically ill, striking him unable to continue the day. It was miserable. He couldn't stand being without her, and was only able to find solace with her in his dreams, she often visiting him through the Emerald Dream. Sometimes it would just make it worse for him, not being able to physically hold her in his arms, unable to keep her safe.

Down in her study, Hazil sat with the letters from Darnassus. She read over each one and wrote an appropriate reply for each, and sealed them in the envelope. She went out, down the walkway across the garden and to the mailing box and slid the letters in. After she had done so, her trail of thought caused her to look up at the darkening sky. In the distance, a wolf howled to the stars, and a few others howled in reply. It only added to the peaceful atmosphere of Astranaar.

The moment wore on, the howling from distant packs rang through the air. It became eerie, with no other sounds adding to ambiance aside from the howling. Her ears pricked to the sound, the keen hearing she had developed over time straining to catch even the smallest sound of a twig breaking. There was a mix of sounds, all adding up to what was heavy foot falls.

_bah thump. bah thump. bah thump._

Over and over, the footfalls were all around, as far as Hazil could tell. Something, and lots of it, were coming toward Astranaar.


	2. This can't be real Can it?

In an instant, Hazil ran back into the house to wake Caius. Whatever was coming, was coming extremely fast. Warriors and sentinels of Astranaar were already running toward the sound to defend their city. Battles meant wounds, and wounds meant the need for priests.

Hazil opened up the door to his room and saw her brother fast asleep in his bed, laying on his front. Even when in slumber, his muscles were outlined perfectly against his blue skin and his white hair was draped over his face and back. The blanket was pulled up to his hips, and a sheen of sweat covered his body.

Caius was having a nightmare.

It took Hazil about twenty seconds to recognize this, and the instant she did, she was immediately at his aid, by his side. Her cool hands rested against his overly warm back and shook lightly, enough to stir him.

"Caius, Caius wake up please," she whispered to her brother with desperation. HIs eyes flew open, the healthy glow returning to them as he adjusted to the waking world. His breath released in a heavy gasp and resulted in him catching his breath.

"Caius," Hazil said in relief and continues, "are you alright?" He looked around, glancing at her. Just his sister being there was enough to ease him.

"Yes.. Yes, Hazil... I'm fine. I just thought..." he muttered as he sat up in bed, using the blanket to cover his nudeness from his waist down. Hazil looked at him questioningly.

"I just thought... You were Syrena," he finally admitted. Hazil's sympathy bubbled over, and it took a lot of her strength to keep from crying for Caius. Even she knew how much her brother missed his mate.

"I'm sorry, Caius.. I didn't mean to startle you," she apologizes quietly. He shakes his head in response.

"Why did you wake me up?" he asked straightly.

"Well, something is happening. Something is approaching Astranaar. We're needed," Hazil explains. Almost before she could finish the sentence, Caius was out of bed and slipping his robes on, tightening it around himself. Just a moment after, he and Hazil were out of the house, both listening to the rapid footfalls, ever closer to Astranaar.

"What's out there?..." Caius mused to himself. Hazil shook her head, unable to answer the question.

On the other side of the river, a figure appears out of the trees. In the shade of the early night moonlight, it was hard to make out, but it became more clear.

It looked like a wolf, standing on its two hind feet.

Immediately, Hazil and Caius recognized just what it was.

It was the first Worgen ever seen since the Great Wars. It's also, the first of many, many more.

The large beast howled, signaling to the rest of the likely enormous pack. Sentinels, druids and warriors charged, in an attempt to drive them away. Caius and Hazil followed 20 yards behind everyone else, watching, prepared to heal and revive anyone who falls.

All around, Caius heard the devastating sounds of pain and suffering, and slowly loses sight of his sister, whom had gone into the fray in her Shadow form to help. It was just him, now. Just him to watch over everyone and pray to Elune they drive the monsters away without any fatalities.

In his peripheral vision, Caius sees a druid lose to a monsterous wolven beast. His instincts and training senses flood his body, and without fear, he runs to the druid, the beast already having fled for protection within his pack, injured as well.

Caius kneels, looking over the wounds of the now unconscious male Druid. He had injuries spread across his whole body, along with a severe concussion. Under his breath, Caius whispers the prayer, and his hands glow a soft, yellow light. The Holy Light spreads itself along the Druid's skin, healing the injuries and easing the pressure in his head. His consciousness returns, though foggy, the Druid gets to his feet and shifts into his bear form. He growls and snarls at the beastly Worgen that had inflicted those wounds, getting it's attention. However, before the Worgen could return to it's previous target, a sentinel pierced it straight through the eye, killing it instantly.

Caius sighed in relief, knowing that one of the many beasts had fallen, and just as soon as he thought this would be the beginning of the end, he felt a large, heavy presence looming over him, taller than even his 6 foot 10 inch frame. Caius felt his muscles tense in apprehension as he slowly turned around.

Behind him, the presence that loomed over him, was a disturbingly large, disfigured Worgen that had blood red eyes and something horrifying dripping from it's claws. The substance that dripped from it's claws was so volatile that it killed the grass on contact. There was only one explanation for such a horrifying creature that came from the Emerald Nightmares themselves.

This was the Alpha.

He backed away, fear coursing through his veins, for the first time in, practically, his whole lifetime. Caius felt his breath hitch in his throat as the Alpha neared, it's claws raised and prepared. Somewhere, before it happened, Caius heard someone very dear to him scream his name, but he barely heard it in time before it happened.

The claw, the lowered one, swung up, catching Caius' flesh and ripping it fiercly open, his robes shred to bloodstained rags. His abdomen burned, his neck burned, his jaw burned. His whole body felt like it was on fire, his mind tricking him to thinking it was.

In his injured state, as he fell to the ground, Caius could feel the flames of Hell lapping at his skin. It wasn't time for his passing yet, but it seemed it was inevitable. Caius could barely even register the fact he fell down, his body slamming into the ground and his head hitting a surfaced tree root, knocking him into the blackness.

It was as if time stopped, sped up, and stopped again all in the same instance. Caius could hear his heart pounding, fighting the poison that had covered the Alpha's destructive claws. He couldn't feel it anymore. He could just hear his heart pounding in his chest. He tried to think, tried to remember where he was or what he had been doing, tried to remember _why_ he had been doing it. Tried to remember the voice he heard scream his name.

That voice... It was familiar. Too familiar, as if it meant more than what it seemed like. A voice, a voice that shouldn't be in Ashenvale.

Before he could think about it anymore in his dazed state, he started to come around, feeling another presence with him, but this presence, it was a welcomed one.

"Caius... Caius, my love. I'm right here. Easy, easy, my love. Don't move too much," a soothing voice coo'd to him. There it was again, the voice that screamed his name. It certainly wasn't Hazil, but he could feel her presence nearby. No, it was someone else, someone more dear to him.

It was Syrena.


	3. The One Night

**A/N. It took a lot of confidence to rewrite this chapter, because the first time I wrote it, my computer was dumb and deleted it all. That chapter was better than this one... Enjoy anyway :)**

Everything was fuzzy, his head throbbed, his body burned, he wasn't sure if what was happening was truly real. It frightened him.

"Syrena?.." he tried to speak, his voice barely anything more than a whisper.

"Shh, Caius. I'm here," she whispered, he could feel her cool hand stroking his hot forehead and hair, sweat beading up on his hairline, only to be wiped away. His breath caught in his throat from the pain, causing him to flinch a bit. She laid her hands on his chest, trying to calm him.

"What... what happened to me?" he asked lightly, not very well remembering what has happened.

"There was an attack... I'm... Not exactly sure what they were, but they were walking wolves. The alpha attacked you... I saw you go down," she said, tears of her own bubbling in her amber eyes. Slowly, the events all came back to him. The Worgen attack, she screaming his name... Remembering she shouldn't be her. It could have just as easily been her going down, and it would have killed anyone else. Anger spread through his veins.

"Syrena, you shouldn't be here, my love. You shouldn't have come. What if it was you in the state?" he asked, his eyes fully opening, his gaze directed straight at her.

"I wasn't about to stay away from this," she said sternly. Knowing he wasn't going to win this argument, he sighed, and his breath caught again, causing him to cough violently.

"We can't properly heal you, Caius. Something was on the Alpha's claws, some kind of poison. It's stopping all healing spells," she sighed in frustration. It now came to his attention that Hazil just returned with first aid supplies and handed them to Syrena. Caius clenched his jaw as she rubbed some kind of salve on the gashes, causing them to sting, however, that sting slowly turned to the feeling of ice on the hot wounds. He sighed in the cool relief, and slowly sat up. His robes mostly fell away from him, but he couldn't be at all bothered to care. Nobody could at this point.

Caius could feel the salve under the gauze, slowly purifying the wound. He felt strong enough to stand, and so he did, pulling Syrena up with him. He folded her into his arms against his now dirty chest. She was so small compared to him, so easily fitting against his body, perfectly linked together. He nuzzled his nose against her hair.

"I have to go back to Darnassus tomorrow morning," she whimpered into his chest. He sighed, knowing his love was going to leave him, leave him for her duties in the temple, for the Emerald Dream, once more. Once more, just as before, the cycle would go on.

"For how long?" he asked softly.

"I don't know... I never know. My father is returning from the Zangarmarsh sometime this week, as is a few other member of the Cenarion expedition to report their findings. I need to be there," she mumbled against his skin. He only held her tighter, knowing he'd have to make the best of her company for this one evening.

"Then we shall return to Astranaar, and spend the rest of the night with each other. We'll make up for the lost time, Syrena. I promise this," he promised her. Despite the pain from the injury, he was far more than willing to make her feel as special and loved as he used to. She tilted her head up to look at him.

"You need to rest, Caius. Those injuries are... Severe," she warned him. He simply stared at her.

"Do you think I care about what's happened to me, when you're in my presence? Do you think it matters to me when you're lucky that it didn't happen to you too?" he asked her. She seemed shocked for a moment, and simply shook her head. Caius just smiled.

"I didn't think so," and with that, he took her hand, and they walked slowly back to Astranaar, not to be seen by anyone for a whole night, not to be disturbed.


End file.
